Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) Message Board

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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT)

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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (11618)	10/7/2004 2:30:02 AM
From: etchmeister	Read Replies (1) of 25522

Not sure how far they have come, but I read an article about a year ago about how the companies you mentioned were woefully behind in remote diagnostics. Brian; I don't think so at all About 20 years ago the Lam AutoEtch 480 (480 = For The Eigthies)had a modem allowing to operate/troubleshoot the tool remotely. Somebody in Fremont could troubleshoot a tool located in Korea via modem. There were already counters for wafers cycled and RF minutes (RF minutes = processing time while the wafer is being etched). Later they developed software to monitor every parameter like gas flow, RF power, valve angle , pretty much everything. That was about 15 years ago and I've lost track over the last four years or so. The next step is to get metrology inline - monitor critical parameters (not tool parameters) in real for every wafer. In the old days they would check every 25 or 50 wafers or even once a shift. Loosing a 300mm is just to expensive which means check every wafer. Again increasing complexity becomes a growth driver for certain segments - in particualar metrology and defect inspection.

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